Photo by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary on commons.wikimedia.org
Rolls-Royce and EasyJet, a European-based airline company, announced that the world’s first hydrogen-powered jet engine has successfully completed an important test.
Rolls-Royce and EasyJet announced that the hydrogen-powered jet engine has successfully passed the tests. Rolls-Royce and EasyJet, a Europe-based airline, have said their goal is to reduce emissions by 2050, explaining that this success in the ground test “will be a milestone for producing the world’s first modern hydrogen-powered air engine.”
Testing was conducted at an open-air facility in MoD Boscombe Down, England, using a converted Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A aircraft engine.
Flights are one of the most carbon-intensive forms of travel, and airline emissions have a huge impact on the planet. Energy Industry Review reports that the Réseau Action Climate Association has found that, as of February 2022, aviation is responsible for five percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. As these figures do not account for aircraft stalls, the actual emissions could be much higher, reaching up to 15 percent of global emissions.
The aviation industry says it’s trying to reduce emissions by trying to develop airplanes that use alternative fuels like hydrogen for air travel. The attractiveness of hydrogen is important because it produces water as waste, not carbon dioxide. In recent years, a few hard-to-decarbonize industries, such as airlines, have invested heavily in hydrogen technologies to reduce their emissions.
